After spending five of their first six games at home, the Calgary Flames head out of town for their first real road trip of the season beginning tonight. First up? A date with the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena (5:30pm MT, televised on Sportsnet West and radioed by Sportsnet 960 The Fan).

Before you get too worked up, this ain't your mother's Red Wings team. First of all, there's no Jiri Hudler, Nicklas Lidstrom or Tomas Holmstrom in Motown. Hudler, as you may know, is playing for the Flames now. Lidstrom and Holmstrom retired. Brad Stuart left for the Sharks. And there are a few folks injured besides. Altogether, the Red Wings are missing seven regulars from their line-up.

The Flames are 1-3-2 on the year, while the Red Wings are a comparably massive 4-3-1. Last season the teams split their four meetings evenly. They each even scored the same number of goals on each other. All-time, the Red Wings have won one more game than the Flames have head-to-head, so there's bragging rights on the line.

And a pair of points that the Flames desperately, desperately need.

THE LINE-UP

The Flames lost a heart-breaker on Saturday against the Blackhawks but everyone – media and coaches alike – seemed very impressed with how the team basically dominated Chicago and lost due to some epically horrible luck.

Friend of the site Pat Steinberg (@Fan960Steinberg) reported no changes at Monday's early morning practice at the Corral prior to the Flames jetting out to Detroit. According to Tuesday's morning skate, your designated scratches will be Tim Jackman and Cory Sarich.

Cammalleri – Tanguay – Iginla

Glencross – Backlund – Stempniak

Hudler – Stajan – Cervenka

Comeau – Jones – Begin

Bouwmeester – Giordano

Wideman – Brodie

Smith – Butler

Kiprusoff

Anton Babchuk has been cleared for contact and is traveling with the team, but is a ways away from slotting back in.

As you may notice, there's a shocking amount of balance between the top three lines. Hartley's tended to (smartly) give the Iginla and Stajan lines the offensive-zone high ground, but as the games progress (and depending on situation) he's also sent the Czechs into the defensive zone.

Now if only Glencross and Iginla can start to light the lamp...

THE OPPOSITION

The Wings have been utterly ravaged by injuries but have still managed to keep their heads above water in the standings. They'll be without Darren Helm, Jan Mursak, Mikael Samuelsson, Carlo Colaiacovo, Brendan Smith, Joey MacDonald, Jonas Gustavsson and (maybe) Ian White. As of yesterday's practice, here's their most likely lines, courtesy Ansar Khan at MLive.com.

Franzen – Zetterberg – Brunner

Filippula – Datsyuk – Tatar

Cleary - Abdelkader – Bertuzzi

Miller – Emmerton - Tootoo

Kronwall – Ericsson

Quincey – Lashoff

Huskins – Kindl

Howard

Ian White, who led the Wings in scoring against Calgary last year, practiced with the team on Monday but didn't skate in a pairing. He hopes to play, but I'd expect him to be (a) a game-time decision and (b) on the second-pairing if he does swap in, likely at Lashoff's expense.

In an odd quirk of the AHL and NHL schedules, Tomas Tatar and goalie Petr Mrazek played for the Grand Rapids Griffins and beat the Abbotsford Heat 1-0 on Saturday, and now they'll play on the big club against the Flames.

Overall, the Wings have survived quite well without the bodies they're missing. Damian Brunner's fit in admirably, but the team really doesn't have the depth they once had. I mean, Jordin Tootoo is on their team, their bottom-six doesn't really drive the play and their defense is a bit scary.

SUM IT UP

The Chicago Blackhawks are an excellent hockey team that the Flames just took it to on Saturday night, losing through a horrible run of luck. The Detroit Red Wings are not quite as good as the Blackhawks, and the Flames can't keep being this unlucky, right?

Well, it's entirely possible, but it's not likely.

So if the Flames play as well as they did against Chicago, and Jimmy Howard doesn't become the next Ray Emery, there's a good chance that Calgary can leave Michigan with some points. When you consider that the Wings are utterly ravaged by injuries, the Flames won't have a better chance to cash in on Detroit than they have right now.

Ryan Pike has covered the Calgary Flames since 2010. A Calgary native who writes for FlamesNation and The Hockey Writers, he's often at Flames games and practices, as well as spotted in the background of scrums and press conferences asking about Sven Baertschi.

Casual Flames fan here from SK...but thought I'd chime in. The Flames have some of the tools to be a competitive and entertaining team; however, they also have some aging relics that are better served on a different team.

Without Iggy the Flames will still play some exciting hockey, and will open the door for a new leader to step forward. I'd hate to see him go but for progress sake it's time to start a new chapter.

I was thinking more along the line of an Alu but I would rather give a chance to a 23 year old over a 34 year old even if that meant Nemisz.

Akim Aliu is big and enthusiastic, but has serious discipline problems. We got a taste of that during his cup of coffee last year. He looked good when nobody else on the ice gave a damn about the outcome, right up until he was ejected with a 10 minute misconduct for not knowing when to shut his yap. So far this season he has racked up 47 minutes of penalties in just 20 games with the Heat. Zach McKelvie is the only Heat player who has racked up more penalties, but he's played almost twice as many games! Aliu's penalties are not the good kind either. Abusing an official. Multiple counts of unsportsmanlike conduct. These are *not* the result of paying the price to prevent a breakaway! Passion is great, but only if controlled.

Aliu is basically Bourque on steroids when it comes to taking dumb penalties. He would be a *huge* liability to have on your fourth line even if your PK is up to snuff, and the Flames PK is second last in the league! I can see him being called up if there are enough injuries, but he's probably best left in Abbotsford until he learns some self-control, *if* that ever actually happens.

He's got the size and raw skills to be a NHL player, but only if he smartens up.

The Flames have gotten past the first round of the playoffs ONCE since we won the cup in 1989. In 22 seasons they have missed the playoffs 11 times! This is a large reason why so many Flames fans patience has run out with the ownership and management of this organization.

The Flames have gotten past the first round of the playoffs ONCE since we won the cup in 1989. In 22 seasons they have missed the playoffs 11 times! This is a large reason why so many Flames fans patience has run out with the ownership and management of this organization.

listened to tsn toronto radio today, overwhrlming distain for dion, much of the day was callin. one reporter went as far as questioning if dion has the intelligence to read the play. was bustin a nut, seems leaf nation much like flames nation want to blow the thing up.

I went to Wikipedia to check my facts. And consider this, if Bertuzzi had not been suspended in 2004 for the playoffs for the Canucks it is highly likely we would have been out in the first round that year as well leaving us zero for twenty-two since 89.

I went to Wikipedia to check my facts. And consider this, if Bertuzzi had not been suspended in 2004 for the playoffs for the Canucks it is highly likely we would have been out in the first round that year as well leaving us zero for twenty-two since 89.

thanks for making me feel all warm and fuzzy now, i feel like singin koom bya right now.